Last Week - A Household Saga

After having our old home for sale for many months we finally sold it and packed up the whole kit and caboodle during the last several weeks.  We closed on the new house on April 15th and the movers arrived on the morning of April 17th.  

Interesting situation.  They did not pay attention to the box labels, including the ones labeled fragile.  They took furniture apart, but did not keep parts together.  They would grab boxes that we were still packing if we left a room for a minute and we'd come back and the box would be gone!

It took them 2 trips to empty the house and move it 7 miles south of where we were living for the past 16 years.  The problem was, they still hadn't moved all of our possessions.  We had to have them meet me back at the old house last Tuesday afternoon so we could get the rest of our stuff down here.  They were not happy and we're complaining that they were doing it for free.  I had to call the owner and make a complaint so they would slow down and not break anything.  They did, but they got even later.  

I told the fellas that when we arrived back at the new house that things needed to go to certain places and I would direct them.  It turns out that they didn't care.  They put everything down in front of the backyard access gate and we had to climb over everything to lock the gate.

Next came the surprises we found in the house.  We new before we signed the papers that the old gas furnace had to go as it no longer worked and was leaking carbon monoxide in to the house.  This is what Monday the 18th looked like-

The sprinklers went off in the backyard to water the tiny spot f grass back there.  Unfortunately, the previous owners had used the wrong size sprinkler heads.   The cardboard closest boxes got soaked as did we as we rushed to move them away from the spray.

The AC guy arrived to measure for the new rooftop unit.  The plumber came by because the gas hot water heater wasn't working.  And the cable guy came by to hook us up to the internet.  Turns out that the plumber said the old water heater was dead.  It had to be special ordered.  We took no showers or cold showers until Thursday night.  Couldn't run the dishwasher either.  The cable guy said there were no previous wires for cable to the house.  He had to string a cord from the utility pole in the back, attach it to the house, run it over the roof and in through the front of the house.

Our handyman Gary arrived and re-keyed the house and reversed the polarity on an outlet in my studio.

The best thing of the day was having my friend Terri from The Fiber Factory show up to help me start to get the kitchen unboxed and started loading the shelves.

Happy Monday.

Here is Tuesday morning in all these pictures-

Bedroom

Bedroom

50 year old gas furnace removal

Bedroom

Our closet

Dining room

Dining room

Dining and kitchen

Kitchen

Patio

Patio

Backyard

Backyard

Backyard

Patio

Studio

Studio

So Wednesday morning arrived and there were a few less boxes around.  The AC guys arrived and installed the new unit.  The washer was hooked up and finally was ready to do laundry.  The plumber was due Thursday to replace the water heater.  More unpacking.

Thursday arrived and with it the plumber.  He replaced the hot water heater and I finally took a hot shower.  Yes!  More unpacking.

Friday arrived.  My husband, being a man among all men, went out to start the first load of laundry.  It was awful.  He was only a few feet away and heard water hitting the ground.  The laundry room is on the back patio in it's own room.  There were boxes piled up all around the area.  They all got soaked, again.

Turns out the drain was clogged.  I put a call in to my favorite plumber.  He arrived before noon.  He didn't get very far.  It turns out the drain pipe was filled with mud about 30 feet out.  He suggested I call the home warranty people, which I did.  He also attached a pool backwater hose so we could run the dirty washing machine water out to the gravel in the backyard.  That was another boondoggle.  It turns out that our check hadn't cleared their bank yet and the water heater was the only freebie they would do.  My realtor called her connection at the home warranty company and after 2 days got that straightened out.

More unpacking.

Saturday the Salvation Army arrived and took several pieces of furniture that didn't fit on the new house.  The house is 1000 square feet smaller.  I was unable to sell these things at our garage sale so they moved with us as the old house had to be entirely empty for the new owners to do a walk through last Friday.

Sunday, more unpacking.  A trip to Ikea.  More unpacking.

Today- the plumber came from the home warranty company.  He adjusted the position of hoses and tubes for the washer, turned it on and said it was working.  A second later he said "Where is that water coming from!"  It turns out that the washer sewer line was not plumbed to a sewer line.  It was plumbed to the back wall of the washroom where the patio ends.  More wet boxes.  He said the expense to find and hook up to the main sewer line was $#@***!!!!!.00.  I told him to hook up the backwash house again and we'd make due for now.

I was able to get out all of last weeks orders this past Saturday.  The new mailman here is great.  Our son loves being way closer to the community college, my husband loves being a 5 minute drive to his store.  He can ride his bike in the winter there.  I love that we share a car and I can leave here 5 minutes before 6pm and still be in time to pick him up before the shop closes.  Our daughter is 19 and still adjusting to moving out of the house she grew up  in.  The dogs seem to like the new back yard.  I just need to get the boy dogs to stop peeing on the cardboard boxes.

Regards,

Karen

OPYF